


Safe And Sound

by AK29



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 10:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3764155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AK29/pseuds/AK29
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The anchor causes the Inquisitor to experience lucid dreaming. But since she has no training in the matter the newfound possibilites are laced with terror.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe And Sound

She almost punched him.

 

As to whether that would have actually hurt was a question she had no answer for. Her right hook was something in the courtyard - if it was anything in the Fade was a different matter entirely.

 

“Shit. Sorry.” Solas smiled, letting go of the arm he’d caught to dodge the blow.

 

“Nevermind. I should have suspected you’d be on edge. You are not quite used to dreaming like this, are you?”

 

He looked around. “... Especially not with this particular atmosphere.”

 

Ceallach looked up from where she’d been kneeling, rubbing ash between her fingers. There was no texture to it. Nothing.

 

“Do you know where we are?”, Solas asked, sounding almost too curious to be comforting.

 

“The Temple of Sacred Ashes. I think. My version of it, at least.” As she rose, Ceallach dusted her hands off on her trousers and stood only to stumble backwards _shrieking_ when she looked into the eyes of a burnt body that had appeared out of nowhere.

 

Solas helped her up, not without an amused grin. “I swear that wasn't there before. I didn’t put it there!” She evidently sounded sufficiently scared, as his expression changed to serious.

 

“Calm yourself. You are a lucid dreamer now, not a passive spectator. Take control. Don’t let your own mind trap you.”

 

She huffed. “Cheap advice coming from someone who does this in his spare time. I’d much rather not be in control of this mess.”

 

Just as the words left her mouth, she regretted them. She had been the passive spectator for years. Sitting in her room watching others plan her life away, doom her health and control her as if she was nothing more than a puppet.

 

And yet.

 

A puppet was well cared for. It did not need to fear where life took it. Everything was going to be fine. Not happy maybe, but fine. That had been her life for many years. Unhappy, but free from fear.

 

With control came responsibility and with that the chance to fail. Freedom brought endless possibilities but also endless fear. Fear of getting hurt, fear of failing, of dying. Of proving once and for all what her father had always known:

 

That she was useless.

 

Frowning, Ceallach looked at her palm, the softly glowing green wound that had become the focus of her anxieties and her might.

 

Solas remained quiet but his smile returned as Ceallach raised her arm and forced the scene to change. Quickly crumbling ruins gave way to sunshine and a pleasant breeze. He looked down at his wiggling toes and felt sand and when he raised his head again he was greeted by the sight of an impossibly blue ocean.

 

“Your home, I take it?”

 

He looked at her and her face displayed a grimness usually reserved for fighting dragons.

 

“No. Home was a small room I never dared to leave. This might as well have been a different continent.” She took a breath and closed her eyes. “But this place always made me feel... safe. Like everything was going to be alright.” Her voice softened. “In retrospect, it never was alright. Nothing that happened here was alright. I just didn’t have anything to compare it to.”

 

“Safety can be a dangerous thing.”, Solas said as he walked up to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. This time, he didn’t startle her to the point of violence.

 

“It can lead to complacency. We let ourselves agree to things we can barely stomach, just because the consequences of taking actions seem too risky. We lose sight of what is truly important.”

 

She let out a sigh that was more sorrow than relief. “Yes.

 

… It was also quite horrible in winter, here. In the summer it’s perfect. No matter how hot it becomes, there’s always just enough wind to make it pleasant. But the high tides in winter can be deadly.”

 

“Perhaps we all carry something in us that makes us perfect and something else that can make us terrible.”

 

They watched the waves for a while, taking in the ebb and flow of water and time.

 

“Do you think I’m going to wake up any time soon?”, she asked.

 

“That is up to you, I believe. _Everything_ from now on is up to you.”

 

When Ceallach turned her head, he was gone.

 

 


End file.
